Guangdong Province May Establish a Free Port in Nansha District

Investors were snapping up shares in Guangdong port operators and developers on Friday [20 October 2017] after the provincial capital’s Party chief announced plans for a free trade port. Four of the top 10 gainers were port and shipping firms based in the South China province on an index that tracks shipping stocks on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. The index closed up 4.84 percent, led by shares of the Guangzhou Port Company that surged to its daily maximum limit of 10 percent on the Shanghai A-share market…Full Article: The Global Times Oct 2017

Key Point

Guangdong Province is considering constructing a free port in Nansha District, which already hosts the Port of Guangzhou. The cities of Shanghai and Xiamen, Fujian Province, are also working towards establishing their own respective free ports.

ChinaAg Comments

In April 2017, free trade zones (FTZ) began operating in the provinces of Liaoning, Zhejiang, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Shaanxi, as well as Chongqing municipality.

In February 2017, Shanghai announced plans to “reinvent” its FTZ into a free port. According to the Deputy Director of Shanghai municipal Development and Reform Commission, it will take three to four years to redesign and formulate a new rules and regulations relating the free trade port. The free trade port will be situated within the Yangshan and Pudong airport zones, southern Shanghai.

In January 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping promoted establishing a FTZ in Shanghai during a speech.

From September 2013 to 2016, the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone has recorded approximately 40,000 newly-registered companies.

In August 2016, China’s Minister of Commerce announced that FTZs would be established in the provinces of Liaoning, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, and Henan. At the time of the announcement, no deadline had been set for the establishment of the new FTZs. The future FTZs in Henan and Shaanxi are expected to link up and boost China’s “One Belt, One Road” trade initiative.

In November 2015, a Taiwan commodity center was opened in the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone. Taiwanese goods were to be sold directly within the Shanghai FTZ, while the FTZ itself will market the goods on its e-commerce platform.

In April 2015, the Tianjin Free-Trade Zone, Fujian Free-Trade Zone, and the Guangdong Free-Trade Zone were launched.

In September 2013, the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone was launched.

In the autumn of 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road, a strategic initiative to boost the economic development and trade of countries lying along the South China Sea, Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, and Red Sea, as well as overland in Central Asia and Europe.